Who's Going to CMP?

[JaxVette]

Just checking in to see if anyone will be passing me on I95 South on the way to CMP this weekend. The old truck, trailer and Vette will be a slow combo on the interstate this trip. Of course, that's nothing new!
Later - Jack -

[Akcelr8]

If you're slow on the highway, it's the only time your slow! Have a a great time, Jack. Unfortunately, I can't get the time to do this one. Let us know how it goes.

[JaxVette]

Well, made it back from CMP alive. No thanks to the thunderstorms and high winds that plagued us all day Saturday. The track was a little tight, but laid out in such a way that it made for some very interesting and highly educational braking, turning and accelerating maneuvers. This place was slick regardless of whether or not the track was wet or dry. The only difference in the wet was that it was MORE slick. But, still great fun.

It turned out to be some excellent training in how to be very smooth with the car running on slicks in the rain. What I found to be amazing was that even in the rain, after about 4 laps, the slicks picked up enough heat to get some pretty decent grip in the wet. Not that I didn't have my moments where it zipped out to the left or right. Or, just plain started to hydroplane on the straights. But, still great fun! Helps keep the ego in check!

On the down side, I broke a trailer leaf spring on the way down. Found an old farmer out in the country down there in Kershaw, SC that had an old trailer axle with a couple of springs that fit my trailer. Bought'em and mounted'em and made it home.

The other instance of trouble occured on the last lap of the last session of the day. Coming hard into turn 8, I got off the gas, went to tap the brake and the pedal went to the floor. As the pedal went to the floor, the little red brake failure light came on in the display. Nice to have those lights to alert you that your brakes are gone, as your foot is on the floor. Down shifted into third, rolled into the corner where the rear end started its run for the ditch. Stomped on the gas, it hooked up and shot thru the corner. At which time I promptly thought I could have gone through that corner a lot faster all weekend!

Got back to the pits, opened the hood and the front brake reservoir was empty and smoke was coming off the right front brake rotor. From what I could see there, it looks like the inner Carbotech brake pad sheared off the friction material, got pushed into the rotor and broke. The caliper piston then pushed out dumping all the brake fluid. The metal pad of the inner brake was hanging out of the top of the caliper. I haven't had a chance to take the car out of the trailer yet and disassemble the brakes. But, when I do and if that is the case, I'll be talking with Larry down at Carbotech to see what's up with that.

Anyway, that's the report from CMP. A fun place, but kind of a long drive for a short, wet, slippery track. I guess I'll see you all up at Summit Point at the NASA event the beginning of June. Later - Jack -

[C5inWV]

The trailer repair sounds like quite an adventure. One good thing about racing is that you are assured of meeting lots of people.

I hope your brake situation was a one-in-a-million story. It must have failed suddenly, without much of a hint of fade or squealing/grinding. You were fortunate to have the sensibility to accelerate to keep the car in balance, and lucky to have the room to do so.

Put it all back together and look for us out there next time.